“Mount of Olives is first and foremost to the early Church, in fidelity to the biblical tradition, the mount of eschatology where the eyes are turned to the Messiah who comes in his glory” On March 29th we, the Novices had an opportunity to be with Brother Elio, one of our Brothers of Notre Dame de Sion, who took us on an excursion and spoke of the significance of the Mount of Olives in the Bible and in Jewish tradition. We began our walk going up to the sanctuary named Eleona (Greek for ‘Olive’) where traditionally Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. Br. Elio explained some of the Jewish roots of the Christian liturgy of the Lord’s Prayer by comparing it with Kaddish, Shmone-Esre, TB Berecahot. As we continued going back down to the valley we visited the Church of Gethsemane and the tomb of Mary where Judeo-Christian tradition believe that the mother of Jesus was buried in a cave. We continued our walk from the valley alongside the wall of the Old City …